El Salvador, under President Nayib Bukele, has favoured Bitcoin, positioning the country as a crypto-friendly nation. The country has purchased Bitcoin in the past, ignoring the concerns of the IMF and the United States government.
Recently, the president announced on his Twitter page, where he is known to strongly advocate for Bitcoin, that the Central American country had recently purchased an extra unit of Bitcoin to add to the country’s portfolio
The country bought an extra 80 units of Bitcoin at $19,000 each, and this was announced on Nayib Bukele’s page. In the tweet, he included images of the successful transactions of forty purchases, totaling $1.52 million.
Not minding that El Salvador and its President have been heavily criticized for purchasing Bitcoin, both have remained relentless supporters of the leading cryptocurrency.
El Salvador bought today 80 #BTC at $19,000 each!#Bitcoin is the future!
Thank you for selling cheap 😉 pic.twitter.com/ZHwr0Ln1Ze
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) July 1, 2022
The reserve has since grown far beyond the 2022 purchase
The 80 BTC purchase was not the end of El Salvador’s accumulation strategy. In November 2022, Bukele announced that the country would begin purchasing one Bitcoin every day. The program continued even as Bitcoin went through another major downturn and later recovered to new highs.
By May 2026, official records showed that El Salvador held more than 7,650 BTC. The country had accumulated roughly 1,633 BTC between January 2025 and April 2026, bringing its total investment in the Bitcoin program above $622 million.
The pace of accumulation accelerated over the following months. By August 2026, the country’s holdings had reached approximately 7,739 BTC. That means the 80 BTC bought at $19,000 now accounts for just over 1% of the country’s reported Bitcoin reserve.
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El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchase has entered a new phase
In 2026, it looks more like an early chapter in a much larger sovereign Bitcoin accumulation strategy.
El Salvador now holds more than three times the Bitcoin it had after that purchase, despite having reduced Bitcoin’s role as a mandatory payment instrument. Its reserve is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, while its daily purchase program continues.
In 2026, the question is whether a government can maintain a long-term Bitcoin reserve strategy while treating the asset as a strategic treasury holding rather than the foundation of its domestic monetary system.
For El Salvador, the Bitcoin accumulation strategy has become a test of whether a sovereign government can hold and accumulate Bitcoin as part of its national reserves while balancing market volatility, fiscal policy and international financial commitments.
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